


Discrete Trials

by CrushingOnSans



Series: COSOS Stuff [7]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Autism, Autism Spectrum, BCBA Red, Dad Red, Dad Stretch, Kid Blue - Freeform, Kid Fell, Kid Papyrus, M/M, Razz with autism, The M/M tag is just for the honeymustard, absolutely not the focus of the story, autism representation, big brother slim, its a background thing, kid Razz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 09:31:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11711616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrushingOnSans/pseuds/CrushingOnSans
Summary: Sometimes it can be difficult to think about something other than yourself.It helps when you find yourself with no other choice.Hiatusbut I really love this story and I can't see myself permanently abandoning it.





	1. Fish

**Author's Note:**

> This was started in [COSOS](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8585845/chapters/26298561)!
> 
> I do ABA in-home therapy for a child with autism and I work in an E/BD room during the school year, and I've been wanting to do something for Undertale with this knowledge for a while. Then Fresh and I were talking and we came up with a pretty cool little scenario for me to have fun with!  
> I'm sorry if this offends anyone at all. I'm basing this directly off of my own experiences and multiple children I've worked with across a somewhat varied span of ages, so while it is not meant to offend and it is accurate to a few examples of autism, it will not be accurate to all cases. Please let me know if you have specific problems with anything I said or represented and I will be happy to fix it so that it doesn't cause any problems!  
> I hope you enjoy!

“Razz.”

The car was going to get hot, now that he’d turned off the air conditioning, and Slim found himself wishing he wouldn’t have to walk through the hot parking lot. 

“Razz?”

When there was no response, he turned around, sighing as he saw the other repeatedly looping his fingers around the rim of the cupholder at his side, completely immersed in the activity. 

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--”

Razz looked up, a giant smile growing across his face as he opened his own mouth, attempting to echo the drawn-out sound. “aaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Slim couldn’t help the smile that bloomed across his face at that, the excited expression on the small face warming his soul like not much else could. “Are you ready to go see some fish?”

At that, his face absolutely lit up, hands flailing in excitement and batting at his booster seat. 

Slim snorted, unbuckling quickly and closing the door behind him before rounding the car to where Razz was still buckled in. His hands were still flapping as Slim reached over him, unbuckling him and freeing him from his booster seat before lifting him down to the ground. He immediately took his hand, reaching back into the car to retrieve his backpack before closing and locking the car. 

When he looked back down, Razz had his head tilted to the side, eyes focused up in the general vicinity of the sun as he turned his body side to side, letting the light enter his sockets at different angles. 

“C’mon, bud,” Slim murmured, scooping him up and into his arms before proceeding for the entrance of the local aquarium, sighing as his little brother remained stiff as a board, still focused up on the light. 

When they entered the building, Razz seemed to come back to himself, turning his head from side to side to look at the building. As they approached the ticket booth, he started to wriggle, obviously wanting down. Slim raised a brow, saying the other’s name. When he received no response, he reached up, covering his eyes for a split second before removing his hand and pointing to his own face. Razz followed the hand, making eye contact shortly before he looked away, still wriggling. 

“Do you want down?” Slim asked exaggeratedly, catching his eye contact again before Razz looked away and down at the ground, looking upset. Then he lifted a hand, bringing it up before dropping it quickly, one finger pointed vaguely at the ground. “Good job!” Slim praised, setting him carefully on the ground before taking hold of his hand again, leading him the rest of the way through the process of getting their passes checked and entering the facility. 

As soon as Razz caught sight of the fish in the first room, he was absolutely enraptured, stopping dead in the middle of the walkway to fix his eyes on a yellow tang in a nearby tank. As it swam away, he started tugging on Slim’s hand, bringing him to follow as he trailed the fish along the tank. It swam a circle around the outside, and Razz was behind it every step of the way, never taking his eyes from the bright colors and flashing scales. 

After the third circuit of the tank, Slim picked him up again, prefacing the inevitable tantrum by handing him a cheez-it. Distracted by his new prize, Razz squinted up at the lights of the building and allowed himself to be carried along the halls. 

It wasn’t long, however, before he lowered his gaze, focusing on first one side of the hall, then the other. Upon finding no fish, he turned his betrayed expression down at the floor. 

“What do you need?” Slim asked, his voice quieter than he normally would have asked the question. Razz seemed unusually present here, as always, so he didn’t need to make his voice as loud as he normally would have. 

Sure enough, the hand was immediately lifted, zigzagging forward in an all-too familiar motion. Slim smiled at the determined expression, saying quickly, “There are fish over there!”

Razz tried to spin around in his arms, and if Slim hadn’t been expecting it, he likely would have dropped him. He held up another cheez-it, just out of reach, and Razz tapped his own chest before reaching for it. Slim allowed him to take it, forgiving the lazy sign language just this once. 

They approached the tanks of the children’s area, and Slim set Razz down, keeping a close eye on him as he let him wander over to a small tank on his own. Sure enough, he found a brightly colored fish, beginning to follow it around and around the tank, quietly babbling, “issississississississ…”. 

Slim shook his head, sitting on one of the many benches that lined the walled children’s site so that he could watch the other. He couldn’t get distracted, because if Razz got upset, he needed to be able to respond quickly. Those tantrums were never fun, especially if he  _ actually _ followed the therapist’s advice and didn’t reinforce it. 

“BLUE! GET BACK HERE!” 

The sound of running caught his attention, and he took his eyes off his brother for a split second to see two kids running pell-mell into the kid’s area, one chasing the other with something akin to murder in his eyes. The one on the run (Blue, Slim assumed) had bright blue eyelights, laughing madly as he dodged a tank, holding a bright red scarf above his head like the holiest of prizes. 

“If you want it back, Fell, you’re going to have to-- _ oof! _ ”

Slim’s eyes went wide as he watched the smaller run smack-dab into Razz, completely bowling him over and sending them both to the ground. 

Razz seemed shocked for a moment, staring up at the other with wide eyes. Blue sat up, dusting himself off before yelping as the taller child, who Slim figured was probably Fell, caught up, yanking the scarf from his grip and wrapping it around his own neck with a grumble. 

Blue laughed, then, standing before he turned to look down at Razz, holding out one hand to help him up as he started in on a stream of excited chatter. Slim, half-risen out of his seat, watched with bated breath for the other’s reaction.

“I’m so sorry I knocked you over! We were just playing and I didn’t see you at all! Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Do you want some help getting up?”

To Slim’s extreme surprise, Razz sat up, very quietly, still staring up at the other two children. His gaze shifted between the bright blue excitement of one to the dark red annoyance of the other. Then, very calmly, he lifted his hands, pressing them down on either side of his head to block out the sound. 

Slim suppressed a snicker as the smaller of the two paused, staring down at the other in confusion. “What are you--”

“Oh, thank fuck!”

Slim jumped, turning to see yet another person round the corner. He was shorter than himself, with bright red eyelights and wearing a ratty black coat. He was closely followed by a much taller guy, towering over even Slim and wearing an orange sweatshirt. 

As he turned to look, the one in orange smacked the shorter one, murmuring under his breath, “You really need to stop swearing around the kids, asshole.”

The shorter waved a hand dismissively in his direction, entering the kids playground and grumbling something quietly before addressing the small group. “You two can’t just run off like that! And, Blue, seriously, stop taking his scarf. His dad gave that to him, and I hear the guy is pretty great.”

Blue shot him a Look. “You’re his dad, Red.”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty great, aren’t I?”

Both of the kids rolled their eyes at that, and the taller adult snickered quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets. Blue glared over at him for a split second before looking back at Red, crossing his arms. “I don’t have to listen to--”

“Blue.”

He shifted his jaw as the orange-clad skeleton spoke, then rolled his eyes as though he were a teenager, even though he couldn’t possibly have been older than nine or ten. 

Slim was distracted from the scene, suddenly, as he caught sight of Razz, his hands pressed so closely against the sides of his head that he looked like he might be hurting himself. Slim swore under his breath, standing quickly and crossing the exhibit to kneel beside him, scooping him up into his arms. 

The others started as he came into the vicinity, and he caught sight of Red’s raised brow at seeing a child Razz’s age scooped up as though he were a toddler. 

Blue looked up at them with wide eyes, his arms dropping to his sides as he asked, “Is he okay? Did I hurt him?”

Slim was quick to shake his head, fishing the cheeze-its out of his backpack and handing a few to Razz to get him to take his hands off of his ears. “No, he’s alright! He just doesn’t like a lot of loud sounds is all!”

Blue immediately dropped his voice, and Fell seemed to lean in a little closer as though preparing to do the same. 

“Why?”

“Blue, you don’t need to worry about other people’s business,” The tallest said quickly, ignoring the look he was getting from Red that probably meant he’d been as curious as the kid. 

Slim shook his head quickly, letting Razz down as he started to wriggle again, wandering over to a different tank and finding a new fish to follow. “No, no, it’s okay. Razz just likes things the way he likes them.”

The other adults were watching his little brother’s circulations of the tank, and Slim reminded himself that he was imagining the judgement in their eyes.

“Does he like fish?” Fell asked suddenly, one brow raised as he watched the other, and Slim tried not to bristle. 

“Sure does. They’re pretty, aren’t they?”

Fell nodded quietly, then turned to his father, holding out a hand and murmuring something quietly. Red sighed, then reached into a souvenir bag on his elbow, handing Fell a thick book with a colorful cover. Then Fell grabbed Blue by the upper arm, crossing the room away from the adults and approaching Razz, getting into his path of following the fish. 

Slim held his breath, taking half a step towards them before Fell held up the book, saying softly but clearly, “I have a book about fish.”

Razz’s eyes went wide at the sight of the bright cover, then raised his hand to do the same zigzag motion that went so often repeated by him in this building. 

“Hey! You know sign language?!” Blue exclaimed, repeating the sign back to him. 

Jumping the slightest bit at the loud tone, Razz quickly relaxed, smiling widely and repeating the sign again. The other kids laughed, Blue beginning to parrot the motion again before Fell rolled his eyes, grabbing him by the arm again and shoving him in the direction of a bench. Then, carefully, he took hold of Razz’s sleeve, gently guiding him in the same direction. 

“Cute kid ya got there,” came a voice at Slim’s side, and looked over to see the adults watching him. “He yours?”

Slim shook his head quickly, glancing over at the others to see that they were settled quietly on the bench, Razz staring wide-eyed down at the page as Fell motioned between the book and the tank, probably pointing out the same fish.  

“Nah, he’s my little brother. Are they...both Red’s, or?” Blue  _ did _ kind of look like Red, with the shape of his skull and height. 

“Blue’s mine,” said the taller, grinning down at him. “And Fell is Red’s. Oh, and the name’s Stretch, by the way!” He held out a hand, and Slim shook it quickly before pulling his hand back so he could properly focus on the kids. They seemed to be fine, however, and the adults quickly pulled his attention back. 

“Is he…”

He bit back a sigh. He’d lost count of how many thousands of times he’d had  _ this _ conversation. “He has autism, yeah. But he’s not--”

“He reminds me a bit of Papyrus,” Red murmured, and Stretch glanced down at him in question. “You know, the kid in the E/BD room over at the intermediate school? Who brings us flowers every time he’s going to elope?”

Stretch nodded quickly, but Slim’s confusion must have shown on his face, because Red grinned and quickly said, “I’m a BCBA, working for the school district over in West Valley.”

Slim felt himself relaxing, the realization that he wouldn’t have to explain himself or justify his brother an immediate relief. “We’re from over in East Valley, but Razz has to go to the middle school. They don’t have a self-contained room at the intermediate school, but he does well up there.” 

Red nodded, watching the kids with a spark in his crimson eyelights before turning back to Slim. “Do you guys come here a lot?”

“Yeah,” Slim said, watching his brother fondly as he concentrated carefully before separating out his index finger, using it to point to something on the page of the book. “He really likes the fish here. It calms him down and all that, so we do it once a week, or thereabouts.”

The two of them nodded, then Stretch glanced at his watch before letting out a sigh. “Red, we have to--” 

“Shit,” he said under his breath, checking his own empty wrist before pulling out his phone to check the time on that instead. As Stretch called out to the kids, Red turned to shake Slim’s hand, shooting him a sharp-toothed grin. “Nice meetin’ you guys. Maybe we’ll see you around here again?”

Slim grinned, watching Razz out of the corner of his eye as he got off the now-empty bench, parroting Blue’s happy wave before being distracted by a new fish. 

“Almost definitely.”


	2. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn't resist another chapter, and I have some ideas for the development of a storyline. Thank you so much for the positive reaction you had in COSOS! I really appreciate the support for the story and for the characters, and I'm proud to have done something people seemed to enjoy!!

Okay, so here’s the thing. 

Blue actually really  _ liked _ going to the aquarium. He thought the fish were pretty cool, and dude, there were  _ sharks _ . Who doesn’t like sharks? When he was little (well, littler than he was now) his dad would bring him on the weekends and they would get jellyfish-shaped ice cream bars and sneak them out of the food court to go eat them outside of the jellyfish tanks, “Like the sick dudes we are”. His dad would snicker like he was funny and bite the legs off, then screech because he’d forgotten that ice cream is too cold to be bitten, and Blue  _ loved _ it. 

But it was quite a bit different when he had to sit here by some stupid turtles while  _ his _ dad held hands with  _ Red _ . 

He tapped his heels against the bench he was seated on, glaring at the shell of some innocent little creature as though it was the cause of all his problems. Beside him, Fell had a book in his lap, legs crossed and completely focused down on the text. He really liked that real-life animal stuff, with all the scientific information and names and things. Blue’d always been more partial to fairytales and grand adventure stories, but since they’d had to start sharing a room, he’d been forced to make room on his bookshelf for all of Fell’s nerd stuff. 

Fell was fine, he guessed. He’d just be a lot better if he didn’t come along with his dad’s stupid boyfriend. 

He glanced back over at the adults, huffing as he saw how little attention was being paid to them. Well, fine. If they weren’t going to pay attention, it was their own fault. 

Without a sound, he stood up, ignoring the questioning glance Fell shot him, and walked out of the turtle exhibit. He had a few dollars in his pocket, maybe he’d go get some ice cream by  _ himself _ and then come back. Maybe being scared would mean that his dad would actually want to pay attention to him when they came to  _ their _ \--

“Where the hell are you going?”

He glanced over his shoulder to see Fell following him, and sighed. “What do you want?”

Fell gave him an appraising look, tucking his book under one arm. “I wanted to know why you’re taking off without telling your dad. Again.” It was only a few steps before he had caught up, and they were walking along the hallway side by side, Fell’s longer stride making Blue have to quicken his steps to keep up. 

Blue rolled his eyes. “It’s his fault that he doesn’t pay enough attention to know when I leave.”

They were quiet for a moment as they emerged into the main part of the aquarium, the huge tank in the middle of the floor filled with fish and surrounded by the food court. 

“You know, I don’t like sharing my dad either.”

Shooting the other a disgusted look, Blue started pushing through the crowd, heading for the ice cream stand he knew was on the other side. Fell sighed quietly before following him, holding onto his book tightly and eyes darting from side to side as he took in their surroundings. 

Suddenly, Blue felt a hand on his upper arm, grabbing him and tugging him back into Fell’s side. He turned, making a face as he prepared to yell at the other, but was quickly distracted by the fact that he was pointing at an area a few yards from them, right against the large tank. 

“Hey, isn’t that the kid from the other day who likes the fish so much?”

Blue followed his pointing finger, spotting a figure in a purple t-shirt wandering along the side of the glass, eyes fixed on a bright orange fish. He raised a brow, looking around quickly before looking back at Fell. “Where’s his dad?”

“His brother,” Fell corrected quietly, glancing around before setting his mouth, holding his book tighter to his side. “I’m gonna go talk to him.”

Blue was left standing alone as Fell made his way over to the other, mouth working as he tried to come up with a response. Finally, he sighed, following the other and mumbling something about “can’t even talk” under his breath. 

Fell walked up to the other, getting into his path much like he had a few weeks ago. 

“Hi,” he said, waving quickly to catch the other’s attention. “You’re Rax, right?”

“Razz,” Blue said quietly, coming to stand just next to them. “Are you okay, Razz?”

There was no response, Razz’s eyes quickly drifting away from Fell’s and down to the floor, fidgeting as he seemed to be looking for a way to step around the two children. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Blue asked, furrowing his brow and not noticing the long-suffering look Fell was shooting him. When there was no response, Blue made a face. “Can you even understand us?”

Fell let out an explosion of breath, glaring at Blue. “Of course he can understand us. Just because he’s different doesn’t mean he’s stupid.”

Razz looked up at that, looking between the two of them before curling one hand into a fist, tapping the heel of it against his forehead before gesturing vaguely at Blue. 

Fell burst out laughing as Blue stared at the other, looking flabbergasted. “Did he just call me stupid?”

Still giggling quietly, Fell waved his hand again, catching Razz’s attention before he asked, “Where is your brother?”. When there was no response, Fell asked again, this time accompanying the question with the sign for 'brother'. 

Razz looked up at the ceiling, then down at the floor, then up somewhere off to the left of Fell’s eyes. Then he lifted a hand, touching his forehead with the tips of his fingers before turning his wrist, then dropped his hand before lifting it again, zigzagging his hand forward. 

“What did he say?” Blue asked quietly, turning to Fell in confusion. His dad had taught him sign language a long time ago so that he could talk to grandpa, but grandpa’s signs were always clear and exact, like something straight out of a textbook. Razz’s hands performed the motions more sloppily, and he was at a loss for the first part of the statement, even if the sign for ‘fish’ had been just as obvious as all the times he’d done it the last time they’d seen him. 

“I don’t know,” Fell murmured, and Blue narrowed his eyes. 

“I thought you were supposed to be good at this.”

“No, he said ‘I don’t know’, idiot.”

“Oh.”

Rolling his eyes, Fell turned back to the smaller monster, holding out his free hand and asking, “Do you want to find him?” Razz made the sign for ‘fish’ again, and Fell nodded. “Yeah, there are fish all over, we can go see some more.”

Razz flapped his hands in excitement, beginning to charge off in a random direction before Fell snagged the cloth of his shirt, redirecting him to the doorway Blue and Fell had just emerged from. 

They started back down the hall, Razz squinting up at the lights and repeatedly opening and closing his mouth. Blue just stared at him as they walked, one brow cocked. He knew that the other was the same sort of kid that Red taught, but he never really paid much attention when he talked about it. It honestly all seemed kind of...weird, to him, but Razz wasn’t really that bad. 

They walked into the turtle exhibit just as Red and Stretch were walking out, panicked looks in their eyes that quickly died into relieved anger as they recognized their kids. 

“ _ Blue-- _ ,” Stretch started, but Blue held up his hands in defense. 

“Look who we found!” he said, gesturing exaggeratedly at Razz, who was staring at the turtles with his brow scrunched up. 

Red looked down at Razz, then at Fell. “Did you just kidnap someone?” Fell snorted, but before he could say anything, Red continued, “As proud as I am of you already starting your life of crime, you should probably...like...not.”

“This is Razz, dad. He’s the one we met a few weeks ago in the children’s area who likes fish,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes at the other’s antics. “He lost his brother.”

Red nodded slowly, recognition coming into his eyes before he crouched down, catching Razz’s attention before making the sign for brother. Razz stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, focused on the bright red of his eyelights before he seemed to catch on that he was being talked to. “Where is your brother?” Red asked exaggeratedly, voice upturning at the end of the sentence. 

Razz’s eyes dropped at the attention, and he made the sign for fish. 

Red furrowed his brow, standing quickly and gesturing for the others to follow. “I’m sure the front desk can make an announcement, and maybe we can swing by where we saw them last time in case he’s looking for him around there?”

Blue sighed, reaching up to tug on the bright blue scarf around his neck before upturning his eyes to his dad. Stretch looked down, making eye contact with the other, then raised a brow, his expression letting Blue know he wasn’t out of trouble for wandering off before reaching out and clasping his free hand. Blue didn’t even try to hide his self-satisfied grin at the face that now  _ he _ got to hold his dad’s hand instead of Red. 

They left the turtle exhibit, Fell not holding onto Razz’s sleeve anymore, but he followed along anyway, seeming excited as they got closer to the kid’s area. As they walked, he kept pausing to tilt his head to the side, squinting up at the lights until Red would carefully redirect him onward, nudging his shoulders or back gently. 

As they got closer to the area, they started to hear raised voices, and it was only a moment before Razz came to an abrupt stop again, listening for a moment before giving an excited flutter of breath, making the sign for fish before dashing off down the hall. 

Red attempted to block him, but was too slow, and he cursed under his breath as Blue and Fell immediately took off, following behind him. 

“-- _ WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND!!” _ came a voice down the hall, thick with panicked tears, and Blue winced, making sure to keep Razz in sight as he sprinted after him. They entered the children’s room to see it nearly empty, save for a security guard and--Blue sighed in relief and slowed to a walk--Razz’s brother. 

There were terrified tears in his eyes, and he was gesturing widely as he shouted at the other man, who was saying something along the lines of, “Well if he’s nearly eight, as you say--”

“Stop repeating the same things over and over! He wouldn’t listen to an announcement, he’d sooner walk off with a stranger than--”

“Razz!” Fell yelled, nearly bowling Blue over as he ran into the room.

Slim jumped, turning to look at the newcomers just as Razz reached him, smacking at his legs and holding his arms into the air. Slim was frozen for a moment, then he sobbed in relief, dropping to one knee and scooping Razz into his arms. “Oh, thank f-fucking Asgore…”

“Uh-teen”

“Don’t e-even think about it, dude. If that’s your f-first word, dad’ll roll over in his g-grave.”

With Slim seemingly squeezing him as tightly as he could, it wasn’t long before Razz was squirming to get down, making the sign for down a few times before drawing in a deep breath, preparing to scream. Slim was quick to set him down then, distracted for a moment by glaring at the unhelpful security guard before turning to the other kids in the room. 

At that moment, Red and Stretch entered the room, looking more than a little worn out from the general stress of constantly having to chase their children around. Red sighed in relief as he saw Slim, still gripping tightly onto Razz’s hand as he started tugging him towards the fish tanks. 

“So I see you found him, then!”

Slim nodded, his still tear-filled eyes lightening in recognition at the sight of the others. “Yes...yeah, he just….I was just...I couldnt find his snacks, so I was looking through the bag for them, and I looked up a-and--” he cut himself off, reaching up to rub at his eyes as Razz finally succeeded in pulling his hand away, running straight to the tank with the new purple fish that he loved so much. 

Red crossed the room quickly, holding out a hand to Fell on his way. Snorting, Fell reached into his pocket and pulled out a package of Kleenexes, handing them to his dad before turning to Blue, raising a brow. 

“T-thank you for bringing him back,” Slim was saying, and Blue answered Fell’s questioning look with a glare. He knew he was in trouble. He wasn’t going to run away again. Fell could shut up. 

Avoiding the other’s annoyance, he turned to look at Razz, circling the tanks yet again. As he watched, the other paused, face pressed up to the glass for a moment before turning away from the fish, seeming to be searching for a new subject. 

….Alright. Maybe “weird” wasn’t quite...

He shook his head, sighing quietly as his mind whirled. Maybe he should start listening to Red’s stories a little more closely.

**Author's Note:**

> Please please please tell me if there's something off about anything I've written in this story. I will not be attempting to get into Razz's head and I will not be straying too far into speculation because I want this to be as honest of a representation of autism as possible. I have experience only as a therapist, not as someone on the spectrum or as a family member of someone on the spectrum. Any advice or help you can offer me would be invaluable, and any constructive criticism would be absolutely wonderful.


End file.
